Being Human...USA?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Money, I think, though I'm thoroughly puzzled.

All I can think is SyFy has better market penetration than BBC America, and/or SyFy couldn't get syndication rights.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Did the show ever get out from under this.

Without going into detail, yes.

 

[Fast Learner]

I agree that this seems a mistake.

I offer into evidence the American version of Life on Mars.

Gah. While I agree that this is likely a mistake, I completely disagree about the American version of Life On Mars.

I watched the UK version first. It was brilliant, immensely enjoyable.

When the American version came out I had strong reservations. After watching the first episode I still had strong reservations, but by the third I was completely sold.

The American version is definitely different -- it's simply not the same story -- but it, too, was brilliant and immensely enjoyable. You just had to stop wanting it to be the UK version and instead enjoy it as its own show.

Hopefully the same will be true of Being Human.

 

[Felon]

They actually aren't secret overlords in the series. Instead, they made strategic alliances with certain humans: police chiefs, coroners, etc.- in order to maintain the secret if their existence. They work with those humans and with each other because to do otherwise invites destruction. They're more like parasites than overlords.

Part of the reason it works is that vampires in this setting are not perpetually bloodlust driven killers who need human blood to live. Instead, their relationship with blood is more like junkie and drug.

The decadent ones fall into a couple of classes- the truly mad, the would-be overlords (who want what the vampires of fiction have), and the numb jaded ones. But they're more diverse than that. The show's lead was once l
One of their leaders...until he gave up human blood, making him outcast.

See, that all comes across to me like the typical vampire conspiracy from the aforementioned works of fiction. Why brand one of your ilk an outcast because they won't drink human blood? Because of some prevailing sentiment that humans are food and nothing else? A mustache-twirling pride in evil as a way of life?

Without going into detail, yes.

That is good. I can see vamps affiliating to preserve their existence. I don't get why they'd unilaterally abandon all of their humanity except for just that one special vamp protagonist.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why brand one of your ilk an outcast because they won't drink human blood? Because of some prevailing sentiment that humans are food and nothing else?

Because he was one of their leaders and he tried another way. Not only did he abdicate, he tried to get others to follow this other path. And those who were in the same echelon blackballed him. (You can see the same thing with RW reformed gangsters and white supremacists- former members are not just ostracized, they are often hunted.)

They WANT to be the secret rulers of it all, but they simply don't have the power to realize that desire. They HAVE to hide. (Which again reminds me of the Clan and gangs.)

Unlike other vampire legends, (human) blood is not a necessity, its more akin to a drug. So when shown that its possible to beat the addiction and not drink human blood, he shows his personal strength of will while simultaneously showing their weakness. The would-be hidden overlords are weak-willed junkies. That's a serious blow to the collective ego.